


Broken skies.

by AnonIngram



Series: Alaskan Conflict 1951-1983 [1]
Category: Emmy The Robot (Webcomic), Nandroids
Genre: Action, Alternate History, Child Death, Drama, Hallucinations, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Suffering, Trench Warfare, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:00:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29582016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonIngram/pseuds/AnonIngram
Series: Alaskan Conflict 1951-1983 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2173326
Kudos: 1





	1. Broken skies

Outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska.  
Fort Chase.  
August, 17th, 1953.  
09:00

She was terrified, she heard the tales the veteran nandroids told her, if she could get sick, she would have thrown up by now. When she was being shipped out, no one cheered her on; they only looked on with dead eyes as she walked through the barracks. Passing the simulations with flying colors she would be paired with a personal human handler. She wasn't sure if it was good or bad to not be sent as general cannon fodder that ends up shredded to bits by Machine Gun fire or artillery, the only reassurance was the truck rocking back and forth as it hit potholes along the way. Everyone was silent during the trip to the Fort, nothing was said, the only sound out of anyone was the chorus of M-23 rifle stocks tapping the metal floor, as the truck shook. It lasted for what felt like hours before the truck approached the gate, a woman wearing a white BDU came around back to record each of us down in a manifest. She rattled off names and serial numbers starting with the nandroid across from me, slowly working her way over before she called my name.

"Jacky, 12-3479-B."

I jumped from the back of the vehicle, slamming my rifle stock into the grey and brown slurry, puffed up my chest and saluted.

"Ma'am, Jacky reporting for duty!"

She responded back to my feigned excitement with a half hearted salute, before marking me off on the clipboard. 

"You're assigned with Captain Anon Dockiwok'r, report to briefing, then to your assigned post." She checked more things off the paper, before ripping a piece off handing me it. I stood there staring at the bold letters on the paper, as the woman directed the next truckload of nandroids through the fort gates. Silent in the ashen snow, the paper slowly became crumbled as my hands shook violently. The words kept flashing before my eyes, a terror I only hoped would stay as tales told by the veteran soldiers.

FRONTLINE R&D

I didn't realize I was being pushed forward by the line behind me, until the large concrete struts of the fortress were in my peripheral vision. I fell to the hard ground, having tripped on the divider lip between soft, mushy slush and hard, coarse concrete. I laid there for a while not wanting to get up, just to have my core freeze and never wake up. I felt a hand brush my arms before being lifted up by another nandroid, her hair dark purple with a single pink highlight down her short hair, her teal eyes rotated behind her goggles checking me over for damage.  
“You okay there?” The mysterious nandroid asked patting me down for wounds.  
“Y-Y-Yeah…”  
She grabbed the piece of paper from my hand, all soggy, covered in grime, reading the now bleeding ink.  
"Huh, makes sense…" She tucked the soaked paper into my front pocket, before she jokingly saluted me.  
"Nice to meet ya, Jacky. Name's Jenny, from the looks of your requisition papers, you've been assigned to the same unit as me." I noticed some of her teeth, in her big toothy smile, were missing or cracked. Would I end up the same way?

"Come on, don't want ya late for briefing, or they make ya clean the human shitters, and let me tell ya something, turn off your smell sensors before going down, it keeps the lunch down." Winking at me didn't ease my newfound lack of confidence, but she seemed nice enough.  
"How long have you been here?" I asked politely, as we entered the fort command offices, the warmth did wonders for my circuitry, invigorating my long lost confidence, maybe R&D wouldn't be so bad after all Jenny seemed banged up, but wasn't completely destroyed.  
"Since err… 51', it hasn't been so bad, it had its ups and downs." She didn't smile or nod at that one, she soberly looked at the ground.  
"Oh we're here, I'll wait outside since I've already been through this, that way I can show ya to the R&D labs." With a wink I was left alone in front of the auditorium, double grey steel doors covered the wall facing me, each one being pushed open continuously, by an endless horde of tired looking robots of varying sizes as they pushed each other forward to the beat of endless slaughter.

I must survive this....

\-----------------------------------------

The room was packed with thousands of nandroids, botlers, copdroids, loaders, and some Com-droids all standing in quiet harmony, before the human handlers all shouted in unison.

"Attention, Colonel on deck."

I heard only his buckles and straps on his uniform clanking first before actually seeing him, taking long strides across the hardwood stage. His week old stubble was clean and greased, his face covered with pock marks and scars, but his bright green eyes gave away his spirit.  
His trench coat was worn and used, with a navy blue digital camo scheme, dripped slush onto the stained stage as he made his way to the podium. Out of habit I had already saluted him as the others did around me. I must have imagined it, but I thought he gazed at me, my heart sank more than it already did, A living war hero I only heard about, stood behind the podium just watching us. He nodded shortly before addressing us, his voice thundered in our ears.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I know some of you just woke up a few hours ago, to only be shipped to my outpost, so let me take the time to introduce myself." Stepping around the podium to the front, he laughed before saluting.  
"At ease, if you would," we all removed our hands from our foreheads. "I am Colonel Moore, nice to meet you all. I know that… some of you were torn from your families due to the Outmoded act, and some of you might not be able to ever see them again…"  
He stood silent, holding for a moment, before slamming his hand down onto the podium.  
"That's why I won't lie to any of you, those Godless Commies will not give you a shred of mercy, no dignity, so if you won't fight with the Devil at your heels to see those families again then you never will. Do not hesitate, give them God's Judgement, and you might make it out alive." He checked his watch, before nodding.  
"Alright, I'll see all of you back here at 18:00 to discuss what happens next, for now go see your division's leads and get ready." He saluted one last time, uttering one final sentence. 

"God bless America."

\----------------------------------------

I dragged my feet back outside tired looking up to see Jenny had kept her promise, waving at me to come over and speak to her.  
"So how'd ya like our estimated war hero?"  
"He...seemed alright."  
"Just alright, well whatever sugar, come on." Jenny clasped her hand around mine, dragging me through the crowd towards my assigned post. In a large building with two cylindrical smokestacks on top, marked with a single band of orange paint on the perimeter of the building, it was marked in a faded F-R&D at the entrance. They entered a lobby with a front desk to the left, and a single steel blast door across the door they just came through. A small woman sat at the desk, looking up from the monitor.  
"Jenny, you're 20 minutes late."  
"Ehh, nothing to worry about, just getting me some fresh metal, ain't she cute?" Jenny pushed me in front of the woman, who looked me up and down.

"I don't remember the Captain requesting a replacem-" Jenny shushed her, pointing at me with a wink and gloved finger.  
"Show her ya papers." I obliged, handing the damp dirty pink slip, which she held like I handed her a dead rat that had rotted for months on end.  
"I see… fine, I'll just enter you in, seems the Colonel has something planned for you…" With a sigh she had already grabbed a new sheet of paper.  
"Name, Serial number, and oil type."  
"Jacky, 12-3479-B, and 5W-15."  
"Wow, fancy oil." Jenny replied with a whistle, I didn't think it was very special. The woman didn't respond as she typed the info into the computer, as she pressed enter, the sound of grinding came back from the machine. She stood up, waiting by a printer, where a small disc popped out the bottom, wrapping a chain around it, through a small pin hole she came back over.  
"Here, don't lose it, this is how you get in and out of this building."  
Holding the small dog tag in my hands it read back to me.

Jacky.  
12-3479-BFR  
5W-15  
F-R&D.

That was it, my fate was sealed. I put it on, it clicked and began to slowly tighten, frightened I tried grabbing at it.  
"Calm down, it's only adjusting to ya size, sugar." Jenny patted my shoulder, calming me down. I relaxed before the small disc stopped tightening, it was flush to my skin, but wasn't preventing my movement.  
"Well, Jacky. Go make sure that works, so I can adjust it here. Just put your hand to the scanner at the blast door." I walked to the door hesitant to even touch it as if it was going to zap me, just brushing my fingertips to the plate on the wall gave back a green light. Soon the blast door began to grind open, sending sparks to the floor. 

I walked into my concrete and metal tomb.

\----------------------------------------

"God damn it, stop moving."  
"I-I, oh god Captain be more careful!"  
"I can't if you don't stop moving."  
"But, Ahhh, it makes me feel weird!"  
"Just hold still will you? Faster I get this done, the faster you can get back to watching television."  
"But the socket can't t-t-take that size, it's too big!"

Jenny pushed open the door to a workbay, full of charging stations and workbenches.  
"Y'all alright in here?" She smiled as she walked over to the Captain, who was busy trying to reattach an arm to a nandroid. Her long gold hair splayed out as she threw her head back and forth in pain, her uniform was too long for her body, the pouches filled with medical equipment and crayons, but her arm was wrapped with an armband with a blue cross that glowed like neon.  
"What have you gone and done now, Cap? "  
He replied with a sigh, before holding out a few belts.  
"Just hold her still, I can't hold her still with one arm." His arm flexed with cybernetics as he tried reattaching wires again, oil splattered all over his BDU.  
"Aye-Aye, Captain." Jenny jokingly saluted, before grabbing Lily's legs.  
"Oh god, please-" Lily bit her lip, as the arm socket finally locked back into place with a sickening pop. She laid there as the Captain got to work, reattaching the skin and amp points.

"So what happened to her?" Jenny asked standing over them.  
"She was out getting berries again, and fell on an Anti Personnel mine, found her before the patrols did. I thought I could fix it myself, without anyone else knowing." He wiped his brow leaving an oil stain on his forehead, Lily breathed heavily, her eyes watering. He stood up, taking the mechanic glove off and throwing it on a cart nearby. He saw me standing in the doorway, I tensed up under his scrutiny.  
"You need something, soldier?" He stared daggers into my skull, I just gargled my mouth open and closed, frightened of what to say.  
"Calm down, Cap. She's the new addition to the team." Jenny came over, clapping my shoulder before pushing me inside.  
"That so? I don't remember asking for one." He looked up at the ceiling trying to remember, but shook his head. After being pushed in front of him, he looked me up and down.  
"Huh, you have some interesting specs, mind if I take a look?"  
"Well, I-I would min-" Before I could answer him, Jenny had already answered for me.

"She's kinda scared, so I'm not sure if she would take that too kindly." She gave a stern look at the Captain, who shrugged and began cleaning up the mess.  
"Rather interesting eyes you got, I must say…" He tried reading my dog tags, while mopping up oil.  
"Jacky." I muttered out, looking down at Lily resting on a gurney.  
"Jacky? Well if that's your name, it's your name. Anyway, those eyes, you got any special hardware?" He held the mop between his hands, as he rested his head on them, sweat rolling down leaving streaks in the oil stain adorning his head.  
"Not that I know of, I just had them since I left the factory, I thought they were pretty normal…"  
"White irises on black eyes? That's far from normal, only those new fangled Gen 3 Com-Droids have them, and I only saw one of them, and I figured you were one, even if you aren't as tall as one." He ranted on, getting the last of Lily's oil slick off the floor, before throwing the mop in the corner.

"Jenny, get me 5W-10, she should be ready now." He walked back over, and ripped her uniform at the center, I instinctively covered my eyes before looking back over, he had opened her chest panel, unscrewing her oil cap.  
"Here ya go." Jenny handed him a bottle of oil, which he snapped the cap off, and began pouring free hand into the opening, spilling only a few splashes. After the bottle was empty he clasped the oil cap back on, and closed her chest panel.  
"Well… she should be fine, I'll just let her rest." He stood up, throwing the bottle in the trash before stretching, several of his bones cracked and popped.  
"Oh right," he walked over to me, sticking his oil and callus covered hand out towards me.  
"Captain Anon Dockiwok'r, Head Lead of Frontline Research & Development." I held my hand out, hesitating to take it, but finally accepting I was stuck here, I slowly enclosed my fingers around his, shaking his hand.  
"I'll get a charging station ready for you, but they aren't like the usual ones you would use in the barracks, these ones are more of standing up, and you need to strap yourself in before sleeping. Lily here knows what happens when you forget to strap yourself in." Lily only replied with a groan as he patted her head.  
"I'll let you meet the rest of the squad as soon as they arrive, for now I really just need to clean up the rest of the mess." I nodded to him before leaving the room.

\-------------------------------------------

Jenny showed me the 'barracks' which they repurposed into some sort of game room, bunk beds were nowhere in sight. Couches sat around a TV in one corner, while a makeshift kitchen sat on the other, posters and weapon diagrams lined the walls, some drawn in crayon. A taller nandroid laid sprawled out in sleep mode, on the couch, made of burlap sack, stitched together with rough yarn patches. Blaring on a boom box was Simply Unrustable, Jenny switched it off before slamming her hand down on the nandroid resting on the couch, who rubbed her head in response to the stimulant.  
"Why'd yous go and do dat for?" The Red head Com-droid begged for an answer.  
"Sugar, ya was sleeping while Lily was unsupervised again!"  
"Huh, Lily's over dere," She pointed to a bean bag chair, groggy from the surprise alarm clock. "Oh whaddya know, she ain't dere. Wait."  
She bolted upwards, getting to her feet, standing taller than both Jacky and Jenny by two whole feet.  
"She was right dere, I swears."  
Jenny just rubs her head, shaking it in response.  
"Sorry, Jacky. This useless pile of scrap, is Helenia." Jenny exclaimed while grinding her teeth, the taller robot looked at her, oil stains under the eyes, unkempt hair down to her shoulders. 

"Huh, who's dis?" She walked over to me, bending over to look into my face, her own red eyes rotated trying to see if she remembered my face.  
"She's new here, sugar." Beamed Jenny as she walked over to help introduce us further.  
"New broad? Did da Captain order her?"  
"No, she was assigned here."  
"Oh then, dat means she's our new par-par… pal?"  
"Partner. And yes."  
Helenia grabbed my hand, and shook it with some kind of strength I didn't think she'd have.  
"Nice to meet ya's, I'm… Helenia, I can't remember what it stoods for, Heavy… Heavy something." She stood there caught in some heavy thought alright, her mouth wide open, still holding my hand.  
"Heavy Equipment… Ah whateva, what's yer favorite movie?"  
"I don't… have one."  
"Whatcha mean?"  
"I didn't really interact with my family too much, and most of my free time was filled with cleaning."  
"Ahh… sorry to hears dat, yous want some booze?"  
"I don't drink."  
"The Captain will be talking to us later, so don't get drunk."  
"Ahh, damn fuckin…" Helena trailed off as she kicked her feet up on the coffee table, as she plopped back down on the couch.  
"Wake me when it happens."  
And so Helenia went back into sleep mode.  
Me and Jenny just spent the remaining hours just watching TV and reading month old magazines.

\-------------------------------------------

Watching the television was tedious; the programs mostly contained Government approved propaganda or commercials from Military contractors like Ingram Industries, or Volkman K&H Division.  
The grinding of the blast door shook the building, telling someone was here before the sound of boots came down the hall, followed by two familiar voices.  
“Sir, do you think this would work? I barely got Lily in working order just hours ago.”  
“Son, I believe they can do this. Trust in your men, as I have placed trust in them.”  
“I trust my women, but I do not trust the equipment…Fine.”  
The door opened, Colonel Moores came in alongside Captain Anon, they bickered like old friends as they entered the rec room, Jenny was the first on the up and up.

“Colonel on deck!” Helenia stirred from sleep, Jacky got up and saluted with Jenny, before the Colonel laughed removing his beret.  
“Ladies, Ladies, at ease I am merely here to talk to the Captain, you can go back to what you were doing.”  
They all put down their arms, Jacky sat back on the couch and twiddled her thumbs, Jenny sat back on the pool table reading a Lyfe gossip magazine.

Helenia however had other ideas.  
“Colonels, hows ya doing?” She slammed her hand against the wall, towering over the 6’ tall man.  
“I sees ya got some new scars since last I saws ya.”  
Jenny shook her head trying to cover her face with a magazine, Jacky only watched with meek interest.  
“Right, Helenia it has been quite some time. Last time we were together was destroying a Communist Airbase on Kodiak Island…”

“Yous never got back ta me, when I asked fors a date, Colonel.”  
Moores smiled nervously, putting his hands up in defeat.  
“Now missy, I am quite a busy man and have my plate ful-”  
“I know, I know, yous gots ya plate full pushing da reds off Alaska, how many more times ya gonna use dat excuse?”  
After she finished, the Captain flicked her nose, pushing her off the Colonel as she howled in pain.  
“Helenia, enough with the jokes.”  
The Colonel pointed to Jacky.  
“I actually came to speak to that young lady, right there. Come here, soldier." Jacky strode over next to the pool table, and saluted.

"What is your name?”

“Jacky, 12-34…”

The colonel waved her off before she could finish.

“I just want your name, this meeting is informal after all.” He patted her shoulder before walking to the other side of the pool table.  
“Jenny, hand me a Pepsi, if you would kindly.” Jenny got off the Pool table, reached under, grabbing a single soda from the treasure trove under the pool table. She tossed the can to the Colonel, who caught it between his worn, black leather gloves.  
“Thank you kindly.” He popped the top off the can, before taking a sparing sip.  
“Always good, but doesn’t beat a nice cup of momma’s homemade Hot Chocolate, now where was I? Oh right, you Jacky.” He walked back over, perfect in stride like a man of honor should.

“I understand you may have doubts how this unit works, and I understand not everything can be said outside these halls, but I have a question, that I ask every Nandroid, Nundroid, Botler, Com-Droid, hell even the damn tools if they talk. Once you’re here, you cannot share anything with the outside world, this is your last chance to walk out of here, scott free.” He rubbed the rim of the can with his forefingers, watching Jacky. His point didn’t seem to get through to her, so he put his hand on her shoulder.

“Alright, you might need some enticing…" He walked around the pool table, rubbing his gloved pointer finger on the worn wood. "I am saying, you can go back to your family, I know where they are and they're perfectly safe, all you need to do is follow each of my commands thoroughly and to the letter, do you understand?”  
Jacky’s eyes went wide, she grabbed his coat pulling him closer, a smug grin was his only response to her sudden violent outburst, the others got tense as Jacky stared him down with a glare.

“Well, what is your answer?”

\---------------------------------------


	2. Zero Hour

Outskirts of Anchorage Alaska.  
Fort Chase  
1953  
18:00

The Captain hurled his worn work gloves onto his oak desk upon entering his office, stacks of papers or repair requests left abandoned had nearly tripled the desk's height. The heater struggled to push lukewarm air into the office under the harsh Alaskan conditions, slamming his ass down onto the leatherbound office chair that has seen far better days gave him little comfort to what has been happening recently. He pulled open a drawer where more paper and clipboards sat in the bottom, pulling them out revealed the objects of his desire, a clear orange plastic pill container, and a silver Colt 1950. He snapped the cap off the container, downing two pills before throwing the container back into the drawer. The glint of silver stared back at him from the bottom of the wooden casket, oiled and clean, it’s heart beating, it’s hunger for blood called to him. His hand twitched, hesitating to take the cold steel into his warm hand, he heard it whispering to him, calling to him, his fingertips lightly brushing the metal finish as a knocking resounded through the thin metal door. He put the papers back on the gun and pills, before closing the drawer sealing his sins once more. He cleared his throat, wiping the sweat from his face before giving the person at the door a reply.

“Come in.” He spit into the nearby trash can to clear his mouth of a copper aftertaste, as Jenny stood at the door watching him.  
“You okay there, Cap?” She walked in, worry plastered to her face.  
“Yeah, yeah, just… doing some paperwork, since I finally have some time, anyway what’s the issue?”  
“Well, the girls are ready and waiting for tasking, so why don’t ya stand up, clean your ugly mug off, and get out there.” She stepped outside, the door automatically shuts behind her, her footsteps dwindle as they get farther away.  
“Right, I’ll be out shortly.” He called after her, the chair whined as he stood up heading to the sink, cleaning himself of grime and oil, he went to wipe water from his face with a towel. In the steam stainrd mirror he could make out what appeared to be a nandroid sitting on his desk. Her grotesque cracked chassis, rust covered, half her face missing, damp yellow cigarette sticking from her mouth. Her white BDU was stained brown and black, covered in gashes and holes, underneath lies skin molten green patched in mud, her orifices leaked blackened goo, her body was held together with barbwire, when she spoke with rotten teeth she spewed crawling maggots onto the floor, her eyes swirled with different unintelligible symbols dripping in blood.

“Well…” Her voice glitched out, her fake breathing raised a chest cavity that was ripped in two, wires and hoses dangled from the opening as they gushed more black tar onto the floor causing a sickening gurgling noise to rise from the bottom of her stomach. “Seems you couldn’t do it today, not feeling too hot?”  
The Captain shook his head at the mirror, slamming a fist into his head, trying to clear the vision, but it wouldn't stop, the red symbols began to spread around the room.  
"Didn't have it in you, unlike with me?"

The Captain turned around, pistol already unholstered but the nandroid wasn’t there, a ghost lost in the fog, a memory he didn’t want to but was forced to remember. He looked around the room then back to the desk, with a jolt of energy he ripped open the drawer throwing papers everywhere before opening the pill container again, and downing more than a handful of the sweet, delicious orange flavored capsules. He swallowed hard, almost biting his tongue off, rapid heartbeat in his chest as he looked around the room like prey spooked by a predator trying to find shelter in whatever they could find at hand. He gripped the edge of the desk, his knuckles turning white as he pulled himself up. Throwing the pills container into his pocket, he threw the stack of papers back into the drawer before kicking it closed, hurriedly in stride to exit the office as quickly as possible. He jogged down the hall towards the workshop, so he could brief his team on what was to come for tonight’s mission.

\-----------------------------------------

The workshop door flew open as he rushed in, knocking over Lily who fell down in a heap of papers and medical supplies.  
"Cap-Captain, are you f-f-feeling okay t-t-today?" Her blonde hair bobbed as light reflected off the red hair pins holding her hair back in a single ponytail that wagged like a tail of a dog, as she began cleaning up the mess of medical supplies and reports.  
"Sorry about that, Lily. Here let me help you." The captain bent down to grab the reports that flew outwards past him.  
"I-It-It-It's f-f-fine, are you alright?"  
Setting the papers in a neat pile, she began to check her pockets frantically looking for something.  
"I am quite fine, just a bit late is all."  
He heard his foot crunch on something like cardboard, lifting his foot he found what she was probably looking for.

A 24 pack of Ingram high explosive Crayon coloring set for children, from Cherry bomb red to Stealth jet black. Slightly denting the box was already over used, rough around the edges and warped beyond repair, he looked inside, and it was mostly full of Cherry Bomb Reds, besides one stick of Sickbay Blue. Only one red stick seemed to have been cracked but not broken, he shook the box to settle them to the bottom before walking over to Lily who was in near panic.

"Here, I found it, accidently stepped on it though, but they all seem to be fine."   
She grabbed the box nearly in tears, before shoving it in her front left pocket on her BDU.  
"T-t-t-t-t-t-thank you, Cap-Captain."  
He helped her up off the floor as the door slid open, Jacky, Jenny, and Helenia strode into the room walking over to them.  
"Cap already making moves on little Lily, huh?" Helenia snickered before being hit in the back of the head by Jenny.  
"Why do ya keep doing dat?" She rubbed her head, before Lily ran over checking her over for major damage.  
"Sugar, why do you gotta keep embarrassing us?" Jenny flared with disappointment covering her face with a hand.  
Jacky just stood in a corner watching them, as they bickered amongst themselves, Helenia on one side, Jenny on the other, and poor Lily trying to keep either side from slapping the shit out of each other.  
"Jacky, come here." The Captain let out a sigh gesturing for her to come over.

"Yes?" Ignoring the other three she walked over in front of the Captain as he leaned against a Workbench.  
“Are you sure you’ll be alright? As far as I know you're fresh off the boat, and I can't let that slow us down in the field.” Crossing his arms he looked towards her for an answer, if she would have the same vigor she had yesterday when facing the Colonel.  
"Yes, I'll do what it takes to see them again, even if I must lose every limb, I will crawl with my bare teeth and tongue to see them even from a distance." She didn't move or give the tell tale sign of a liar, after watching her for a bit, he nodded with satisfaction.   
"Good, here. Special delivery just for you, from the Colonel." Reaching behind him and tossing a rifle towards her, she barely managed to catch it, almost sending her to the floor due to the sheer weight of the heat fins at the front.

"What is this…?" She looked over the mass of tubing and copper sheathing on the front barrel, making it seem like a tangled mess you would pull out of a plumbers van.  
He pulled a crumpled paper from his front pocket, unfolding it to read the instruction manual.  
"Ahem, X53-Special Battle Rifle takes 10 .65 ACP cartridges magazines, when you need to vaporize everything tainted with Communism… Ingram Industries," He read further into the booklet nodding before tossing it behind him. "Basically it superheats the slugs into slag vapor, and using an electromagnetic charge, sends it downrange toward a target to burn them alive in their armor, or so the paper says. Let's get you fitted." He picks up a power pack, slings it on her back, extremely heavy and cumbersome it feels like carrying an entire engine block on her back. It went into her reactor connection, feeling like a slimy invader as its tendrils established contact. It took her a few minutes to get used to the feeling of someone wriggling worms under her skin before they continued.

"Let's see…" He chewed on the end of a pen as he continued to read the manual. "Establish connection to… Contact plate D on side B of rifle…"  
Lifting the already heavy rifle up in her hands was straining as is, she set it down gingerly on a workbench, pulling one of the large wire tubing from the power pack, stabbed it into a socket on the rifle and twisted it. Orange and green lights showed up on the rifle and her display.

"I have a good tone, it checks out what next?" She replies to him as he keeps reading, flipping through pages, sometimes turning them sideways or upside down.  
"Connect Plate A to central reactor port A on the back of the head, to close the connection loop...” He read the next sentence slowly, whispering it as if he didn’t believe it himself. “Warning, if the weapon is powered during the last step, it could destabilize the robot core, resulting in a small explosion, huh." Shrugging, he set the booklet down walking over, she lifted the rifle up to have him hold onto, as she pulled the last tubing out of the rifle, and stabbed into her charging port, and twisted. The power icon on the bottom left turned green telling her it would now act as an external battery.  
"Doing good kid?"  
"Yes."   
“Alright well, if the power pack starts to get increasingly hot, throw it off and run."  
"Got it." She slung the rifle onto the hook on the power packs side, making her feel off balance as she stood there.

"Alright, first step since you're new…"  
He turned around facing towards the other three, who were now in a heated debate about if NASCAR was a real sport.  
"Lily!" She squeaked as the Captain called her name, and she ran over.  
"Cap-Captain, what is t-t-t-the issue?"  
"Lily, I'm sure you already know Jacky, but I need a full medical diagnosis done for her, I'll get to the other two over there."

"Yes, S-S-Sir." She unclipped a clipboard from her belt, opened the crayon box, grabbing a Cherry bomb red, and began marking down generic info.   
"Oil t-t-type?" She looked up to Jacky as she stood there in a daze. Jacky eyes of black on white irises were lost in thought, she noticed they were far different in contrast to Lily's pink and orange eye swirl that rotated like an ice cold soft serve treat behind each eye. She coughed, squeaking accidently trying to get Jacky's attention.   
"Huh, what did you say?"  
"I, erm… I said what oil t-t-type!" She bellowed louder trying to reach the slightly taller nandroid.  
"Oh, 10W-25."  
Lily didn't respond as she wrote away on the clipboard, a flurry of red explosive wax spread on cold yellow paper.

"Do you r-r-r-remember your f-f-family?"  
"Yes, but we rarely did anything real family like, so I don't have much to speak on other than their quirks, do you need that?"  
"N-n-n-no, t-t-t-that is good enough."  
She did a quick slash on the paper.  
"Do you have any r-r-relapse in memory?"  
"Not that I know of."  
She marks it off again with a quick slash.  
"Have you ever gotten D-D-Deadmode s-s-s-syndrome?"  
"No."

She wrote once more a long essay on the paper, wax flung in all directions before the end of the crayon snapped off, she looked at it for a long time, her expression slowly turned from focused professionalism to deep depression, she almost burst into tears, before the Captain ran over and patted her head to calm her down.  
"It's gonna be okay, I'll fix it, I promise."  
"You p-p-p-p-p-p-p-pwomise?"  
"Absolutely, I'll do the best I can, just go relax, I'll take over from here."  
Lily sniffles before handing the box of crayons to the Captain. He watches her go before setting the box down on the workbench.  
"Sorry about that, that box is the only thing she has of her late mistress, she gave her that for christmas, before the nuclear bombing of Washington state. Lily was on the subway getting groceries when it…" The Captain looks at Lily being comforted by Jenny before clearing his throat to change the subject.

"Anyway, I think she… got the majority of everything down, so it checks out. Do you feel funny?"  
"No, power output is nominal, the weapon's hot."  
"Fantastic, then I'll uncouple you from the workstation…" As he pressed the release handle, the belts holding the power pack almost sent her sprawling to the floor from the sheer weight of it. He caught her as she freefalled through the air, burning his forearms on the battery pack cooling fins.  
"Jesus christ, you alright kid?"   
"Yes, I forgot to establish gyro controls."

Jenny and Helenia rushed over to help Jacky off the floor back into the workstation harness, as Lily looked at the Captain's arms.  
"Damn, y-y-you might need t-t-t-to s-s-stay here, Captain." She had already ripped open burn cream and began spreading it across his forearms before wrapping his arms in gauze.  
"I feel fine, besides I can still use a rifle."  
"No, Cap-Captain, you must s-s-stay here."  
"But-"  
"No buts, you're s-s-staying here."  
"Fine, you win, kid. I'll stay here and fix those crayons like I promised, but after the briefing."  
She nodded, smiling as she wrapped more gauze around his burns.

\----------------------------------------

Frontline R&D Armory, Alaska  
1953  
23:40

He stood over the holographic display against the wall, trying to zoom in with his barely functioning fingers. Defeated he gestures to the display and Jenny takes over from there, putting in the Nav-link, zooming to a dull looking communist outpost, barely manned with only 10 soldiers in total.  
"Ladies this is the test location, you're all to cover Jacky as she tests and records the results of the weapon she currently has strapped to her back." He pointed to a cliff to the Southwest marking it with an arrow.  
"This is infil and exfil, helo will come 30 minutes after drop off, so gather as much research and Intel as possible, HiComm says the device is more important than your lives, do you understand?"  
Getting a chorus of acknowledgements he gave them all the thumbs up.  
"Sorry, I can't join you this time, so I'll have to do this by ear." He shrugged as he opened the door.  
"Good hunting ladies." They all waved goodbye as they toted around their loadouts for the mission, the door slid closed as soon as the building shook from the blast door opening to the lobby, he was now utterly and totally alone.

"GOD DAMN IT!" He slammed his fist on a holo-display, causing tingling pain to course through his arm, he wanted to go so he wasn't here by himself because the only thing in the silence to keep you company, is yourself and your sins. 

He heard scrapping of rusty barbed wire on concrete coming down the hall.

\---------------------------------

The assault helicopter rotors beat silently against the night sky as it sat on the helipad, painted black with yellow stripes, F-R&D was painted on the side in deep red, she watched it from the view inside the Jeep as they got closer on the tarmac.  
"Ever been on one of dose things, eh Jacky?" Helenia called from the back seat, her twin barrel 30mm cannon rocked back and forth against her knees as the Jeep was pushing through traffic alongside the tarmac as officers loaded troops and M-44 IFVs into waiting P-1880 12 jet engine troop transports. 

"No, but I did see one up close at an air show long ago with my family." Jacky watched the Black Crusader Mark IV, packed with enough hard points for explosive ordnance to level an Islamic Warlord's hideout. It's quad prop rotors spun like elegant blades waiting to take to the skies and rain hellfire onto all of America's enemies.  
"Oh its absolute fun, and when all da rocket pods go off on a pack of charging Russians, the look on deir faces, fuckin' priceless." Helenia slapped her knee, laughing at the idea of such high impact munitions going off all at once.  
"Hmm…" Jacky toned her out, trying to calm herself down from the image of being blown up while in the helicopter.

\----------------------------------------

Fort Chase, Helipad 02, Alaska.  
1953  
23:55

"Ladies, your chauffeur awaits your command." The botler wearing a black pilot suit bows to them as they approach the helicopter, a gentle breeze comes from the rotors just mere feet above them.  
"Heinrich, how are ya doing this fine night?" Jenny waves to the botler as she ascends the steps to the Helipad.

"Well, after I heard I would get to shoot something up with you gals, I puckered right up faster than an armadilla asshole after a fist fight with a vulture, it's been bland being your guys pilot, just sitting around not doing a whole lot, not since... anyway, you gals ready?" He slapped the rappel bar with his hand, before entering the loading bay of the helicopter.  
Helenia yawned, Lily looked worried, and Jenny corralled them all inside before looking back to Jacky.  
"You coming sugar?"  
She felt odd, the rifle was cold in her hands, tubing and coils constantly either getting stuck on her suit or whatever she brushed by. But this was her first mission, she should feel nervous, angry, begging with God to make sure she made it through, but she felt nothing but bliss. She would gain the Colonels trust or die a horrible death, and she sure as hell didn't feel like dying. 

"Yeah, let's get this over with."  
For the first time since she came here, since the whole drafting of outmodes, being ripped from her family, she smiled.  
It could have been nerves or the mind pushing off the many images of death her mind came up with, but she felt a rush she never had before, she couldn't describe it in words or pictures, but she felt genuinely happy. I guess in the end she accepted her fate and would face death head on instead of running from it. 

It was a good time to be alive.

The ramp closed behind her as the rotors began to increase in speed, lifting the helicopter and it's cargo into the sky.

\-----------------------------------------


End file.
